I’ve been monitoring with great interest the idea and reactions to Seth Godin’s post The end of the job interview. He questions our current job interview process and proposes an interesting alternative.

Perhaps it’s time to take a hard look at our hiring and interview processes. Are they serving our needs and requirements or creating future problems?

Reinventing the job interview and hiring process makes perfect sense when we reflect that it was developed for a 20th century workforce that consisted primarily of manufacturing laborers.

The 21st century, brings an abundance of knowledge workers and forces us to ask what is the best method to determine if they are right for our organization. The interview and process required in order to understand the potential employees abilities are very different for knowledge workers.

The top leadership and management jobs in our companies have always been filled by candidates that have come with recommendations from other companies or executive networks. This provides a certain level of security that they had the skills in the old job, but no guarantee they will succeed in your organization and corporate culture in the future.

We are already seeing a shift in how we hire and select candidates. The use of networking and on-line social networks are allowing job seekers and employers access to individuals (at all levels of the company) who come with a certain degree of “recommendation”.

David Maister lends his voice to the discussion with a resounding “I’m of the belief that the overwhelming majority of recruiting interviewing is a complete waste of time.“ In Screening for Character he argues that we should be hiring attitude and character, and our goal in the hiring process is to identify these traits. But there is a catch. We are not trained to do this. He suggests that candidate recommendations from others that we respect and trust are our current best method to assure “success” in the hiring process.

It’s a profound, extensive and obviously well known dilemma in our society and organizations. We know exactly what’s broke and not working well.

Long hours at work can lead to hypertension and death. A study of over 24,000 workers in California by reseachers at the University of California has found that working over 40 hours a week has a direct relationship to higher blood pression and hypertension. Link

The Pope announced that too much work can lead to “hardness of the heart”. He advises that more time should be spent on reflection, meditation, contemplation. Link

What’s the real message here?

Become more efficient. Get the same work done in less time.

Think and plan your work, work SMARTER not HARDER.

Slowing down does not mean being lazy. It requires planning and discipline, and these take time.

Take more time to enjoy life and family, adjust your priorities.

If you are in a leadership position, find out why your people are working consistent overtime, and intervene. You could be saving their lives and improving their health.